IAM588- Coach Helps Corporate Women Become Entrepreneurs

Laura is a business coach and mentor to corporate women who are ready to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into reality. She is an international award-winning speaker and has spoken on stages across Europe, including at Forbes Under 30. Laura has also been recognized by the Financial Times & Yahoo Finance as a Global Role Model for Women in Business for the work she has done in empowering women to rise to become their own CEO.

• CEO Hack: My morning routine
• CEO Nugget: Realise you have the power to create your own destiny
• CEO Defined: Freedom and having a positive impact

Website: http://www.lauratynan.com/

Insta: @iamlauratynan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauratynan/

---

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Laura Tynan of lauratynan.com. Laura, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Laura Tynan 0:39

For an interview here, thanks, Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem. Super excited to have you on. What I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Laura so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Laura is a business coach and mentor to corporate women who are ready to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into reality. She is an international award-winning speaker and has spoken on stages across Europe, including at Forbes Under 30. Laura has also been recognized by the Financial Times & Yahoo Finance as a Global Role Model for Women in Business for the work she has done in empowering women to rise to become their own CEO.

Laura, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Laura Tynan 1:13

Yes, absolutely. Very excited.

Gresham Harkless 1:15

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear how everything got started. Want to hear your CEO story and what led you to kind of get started with all the awesome things you're working on.

Laura Tynan 1:23

Yeah, absolutely. So for me, it started about three or four years ago, actually, when I was back working in Dublin. At the time, I was doing a normal corporate job, coming in at night, and checking out at 7 am. But it was just another very inspiring on satisfying work for me at the time. Then there was this transition point and I came across an amazing leader in personal development. I decided to fly to Canada on a whim and go and train with him. For me, it was like a crazy decision, because I had never actually even really known what personal development was at the time, which sounds amazingly weird, and I thinking about it. But it was really new for me.

This guy was telling me about the universe and the power of the energies and the power of your mindset and how you can really control your reality and create it. I was just totally blown away. So I came back a bit on a mission and I was like great burn the boats, I'm quitting this job, I had nothing lined up, and people thought it was crazy. But I came to London and using what I had learned and more on ever since completely transformed my career. So I created this new career that I was traveling around the world like Dubai, Delhi, Sydney, and Singapore kind of thing.

I was working with CEOs of companies and heads of state and I was going to these big events and celebrities and royalty. Looking back over such a short period of time. I had created this massive transformation in my career. But the thing was as I was looking around, there weren't many other women in the room ever with me doing the same. So at that point, I really began to invest back in okay, how can I mentor and coach other women? Like what initiatives can I get involved with to really uplift women within the corporate world, and working with different leadership teams and different networks and things like that.

Honestly, Gresh, the more I began to lean into that world, and the more I realized that this work of supporting other women and actually creating transformations, for them, was more satisfying, more fulfilling, more enriching than on your paycheck or any piece of work I had ever done to that date. I don't know if you've ever had this moment to yourself, but it was like an awakening or a realization that this is what I'm actually here to do. Burn the boats again, and decided to start my own business focusing specifically on that.

Gresham Harkless 3:40

Yeah, no, I absolutely love that. I have had that experience where sometimes in my job experience, I've bounced around to a bunch of different jobs, trying to find my place trying to find where I belong. It's sometimes the light just flicks and then everything just starts to align.

Sometimes you even I think when we look back, we start to appreciate those dark times or the frustrations because they led us to where we are now. Now we appreciate where we are so much more.

Laura Tynan 4:06

Oh, yeah. Beautifully said. I mean, the dark times sometimes are like, where you have those moments of like waking up to what you should be doing? Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 4:15

Yeah, exactly. So if it wasn't as dark and wasn't as frustrating sometimes we would be comfortable exactly where we are. But because it's not the greatest that's what kind of pushes us towards our destiny and what we should be doing.

Laura Tynan 4:27

It's so true. I think it's actually a big pitfall that many people fall into is that when you're in that place of comfort, you're almost settled. You're thinking, okay, maybe I have this idea that I'm really passionate about, maybe I'd love to start my business. But things aren't so bad where I am anyway, maybe I'm successful on paper, and maybe I'm really good at my job. So we just set up without ever pushing ourselves to see what we could create. If we actually got uncomfortable for a moment.

Gresham Harkless 4:56

Yeah, absolutely and it's a great reminder, sometimes you even have that I don't know if the word I'm looking for but if you feel bad about wanting something more as well you feel like you're frustrating and you should be thankful for everything you have. Sometimes I say a lot of times we're called to do certain things. So once we find that alignment, then that's when things start to take off.

Laura Tynan 5:19

Yes, because I believe we all have a life curriculum that's specifically here, like we're both here for a very clear reason on this earth. There are no extra people created. I also think there's this pressure from society, it's certainly that I felt I've, to go to school, get good grades, go to university, and then get a good job. When you get a good job, and you're not happy, like Oh, my God, I felt so selfish, like my parents had, like, supported me and sent me to a good education. Now I have this great job and if I'm not happy, then what's wrong with me?

There's this shame and this feeling of maybe I'm just being selfish or not being grateful enough. So actually realizing that it's this calling to do more. That's the waking-up point for me that I think many people either have to go through or have gone through in order to start their own businesses.

Gresham Harkless 6:05

Yeah, absolutely. That's why I love all the work that you're doing because you are not creating people, you are helping people to basically create, what is their, hey, you're helping people to create their callings and follow those things and, and set the world on fire and do so many awesome things.

I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Could you take us through, like, how you work with clients and how you get through like, I guess some of those? I don't know if I want to call them limiting beliefs. Could you just take us through exactly how that experience works with you?

Laura Tynan 6:34

Yeah, and I think limiting beliefs is the perfect time to do it. So I offered the women it's like private one-to-one coaching with, like corporate women specifically, although there are other types of clients, or convert specifically to a corporate woman. We go on this journey together and I think the starting point is always understanding why do you want to start your own business. Like, what is it that's calling you? Because I'm sure you know this for sure is the IMC nation, and that clarity really is your power and knowing why you want to do something, because for any entrepreneur, it's not an easy road, and staying in a job can sometimes feel so much easier.

There will be struggles and challenges that come up. So always going back to like, why am I here? Why do I want to do this and why is this important for me, like when we can get that real clarity from the very get-go, it just makes the entire journey so much easier, because you have something that you've been pulled towards. Even though things may be tough. So that's the kind of first starting point that I always work with clients on is like, why do you want this? Then from there actually, like creating and building out the picture of what you want your business to look like? How do you want to serve your clients? What does your ideal client look like, and taking them through that whole journey?

I like to also look at my coaching style as broken down almost into like three pillars. So we have the alignment, awareness, and action. Alignment is very much working on the energy side on the law of attraction on the universal energies, and this greater power whatever we can call it is working for us, and realizing that nothing really has to be done, it's more like alignment was always your first stage. Then there's an awareness, which is more, I suppose, traditionally run the Tony Robbins side of the world, like the NLP and the mindset training and just saying psychology and why we get in our way. This is where limiting beliefs definitely come in.

So what stories have we been telling ourselves and what reasons are we giving ourselves that we're not starting our business, or we're not moving forward, and uncovering those and replacing them with something that's more empowering? Then finally, the action stage, which is actually so interesting, because a lot of the corporate women I work with, and as I would have been, we live in our masculine energy to survive in these corporate, male-dominated worlds. So we're very action orientated and the action sometimes is like the first place we want to go to.

But realizing that you have to align, get aware of your mindset, and then the action becomes inspired action, and it's so much easier to move forward. That's the kind of step and we'll be starting to work on things together. So that's the approach I like to take and I find it has, like, the biggest impact and transformation for women.

Gresham Harkless 9:17

Yeah, no, it makes so much sense. I appreciate you for breaking that down. Because I think so many times as you said we just kind of jump into action, we just kind of jump into trying to get things done. But I think that if you don't do that work before you just end up taking action but as you said, it's not I don't know if I want to say fulfilled action, but it doesn't feel as powerful as when you're able to get those things in alignment and the triple-A I don't know if you call it that, but I'll call it the triple A and be able to get those steps in place to be able to have and create the world and life that you want to have.

Laura Tynan 9:55

Yeah, it's like getting in the flow, right? We all know that moment when we just feel things are just easy versus when we're like really pushing in a struggle to understand, because we live in an age of like the hustle mentality, right? Like work every hour of the day and hustle, hustle, hustle, that also doesn't necessarily give us the best results that we could be creating.

Gresham Harkless 10:13

Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally or your business. You might have already touched on this but is it that vulnerability, the courage to be able to do that is what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Laura Tynan 10:27

Yeah, I think the willingness to be seen is actually something that in today's society is quite rare. It's something I realised which was surprising at the same time. It's also why I work a lot with women, I do public speaking workshops, and different things like that because the ability to use your voice to be heard, to have your message heard, is so important. Not just as a vanity thing, but as a progressive evolution of our world, like having your voice heard, having your message shared, is so key. I think being authentic and being visible and being vulnerable enough to be seen for you, and for your gifts and your talents, and daring to say this is what I want to do can be so important.

I love working with people on that side of things as well. Because for so long, we've been told what we should be doing. This is what success should look like for you. This is the type of stage in life you should be at if you get to this age, and this age, and this age. It's quite nice to come back and free yourself with that and say, Actually, this is who I am, this is what I want to so I want to define myself and how I want to define my life.

Gresham Harkless 11:38

Love that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Laura Tynan 11:50

This is probably not the first time you've heard this but my morning routine is like my thing that I rely on so much. I love getting up early in the morning, I go to boxing, and then I like to meditate, and do a bit of journaling, something like that is my kind of go-to to set me up for the day.

Gresham Harkless 12:07

Yeah, no, I appreciate you breaking that down and I definitely appreciate that. Well, now what did I ask you for what I call a CEO nugget? So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine what would you tell your younger business self?

Laura Tynan 12:21

My younger business side the biggest thing for me was when I actually started investing back in myself, and just realizing the power of our minds, really. I think growing up, I never quite understood that I was the creator of my own life, I thought life was something that was happening and I was like on the journey with it. So realizing that you actually have the control to create your own destiny, regardless of your past, regardless of what your current circumstances are, you don't have to just look at people on social media with envy. If they're doing what you want to do you can also create that for yourself.

Gresham Harkless 12:56

Love that. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favourite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on the show. So Laura, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Laura Tynan 13:06

So two things for me, the first is freedom and the second is having a positive impact. So freedom is like, you get to create your life in a new way of set it up how you want it to be, in the positive impact, it's like, I chose to do work that I'm not only passionate about, but that has a massive impact positively in the lives of people that I work with, and that I can touch. That is just such a blessing and a gift for me and it allows me to use my business in new ways to give back to them in terms of philanthropy, financial contribution, or giving my services to different organizations, schools, charities, things like that. The freedom and the ability to positively contribute is, is really what a CEO definitely is all about.

Gresham Harkless 13:50

Yeah, I would definitely echo that and I appreciate that definition. I always, sometimes say it's kind of like you're an artist, and you have a canvas in front of you and get to paint that Canvas, you get to make those decisions, those opportunities, figure out what colors to use, where to use them and things like that. I think when you start to have that mentality, that CEO mentality, that mindset, it starts to open up the world and open up all the possibilities within it.

Laura Tynan 14:13

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Iris in the canvas. Yes.

Gresham Harkless 14:18

It sounds like a plan. Well, Laura, truly appreciate all the awesome work that you're doing. Appreciate your time today, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things we're working on.

Laura Tynan 14:34

Yeah, I mean, for anyone listening who's interested or has an idea to start their own business or maybe it's like in the process, and it's not working out. It's just to realize that this idea in the stream that you have, like you've never would have been given it if you already didn't have the ability to create it and to make this a reality for yourself. So whatever you're going through whatever hurdles or challenges you might be facing, just realize that they're temporary, and they're only there for you to grow and to become more resilient. To teach you the skills that you need to go on and fulfill this image and this dream you have in your mind, so to keep persisting to never give up, and to really believe in yourself.

So that would be my last kind of comment to make ad yeah, lauratynan.com is where I'm online and then on social media, it's just I am Laura Tynan. I'm on LinkedIn, and Instagram, probably the two best places to connect them. Specifically, if there are any women out there listening who would like some support and moving forward, then I would definitely love to hear from them.

Gresham Harkless 15:30

Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Laura, we will definitely have the links and information in the show notes. But definitely, again, appreciate all the awesome work you're doing and the reminder as well too, is that a lot of times that hope and dream that you have that is in you is there for a reason to see that you should cultivate, you should help sprout, you shouldn't push it aside, because I think so many times there's really awesome projects and really awesome, organizations or businesses that people have, but sometimes they get pushed aside. So I appreciate you for reminding us of cultivating that.

Laura Tynan 16:00

I appreciate you for this great opportunity to speak with you. So it's been great.

Gresham Harkless 16:04

Yes, it's been awesome. So I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:07

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]